Gordon & MacPhail bottles 70-year-old Glenlivet

Independent bottler Gordon & MacPhail has launched a Glenlivet single malt whisky distilled on 14 January 1943, a key date in the timeline of World War Two, priced at £30,000.

The Speyside whisky has been matured in a first-fill Sherry hogshead for 70 years and is limited to just 40 decanters.

The latest offering in Gordon & MacPhail’s Private Collection range, Cask 121 is also the final 1943 vintage from the firm’s stock inventory.

The cask was selected by John and George Urquhart, first and second generation of the family that founded Gordon & MacPhail, for filling at the Glenlivet Distillery.

On the same day that Private Collection Glenlivet 1943 was distilled, prime minister Winston Churchill met president Franklin D. Roosevelt, general Charles de Gaulle, and general Dwight D. Eisenhower in North Africa to discuss strategy for the war in Europe – seen by historians as a “critically important” meeting for generations to come.

The Glenlivet Distillery halted production in the spring of 1943, and by the late 1940s and early 1950s available casks were extremely limited.

Stephen Rankin, company director and John Urquhart’s great-grandson, said: “This beautiful whisky has been nurtured and cared for by four generations of our family and it gives us enormous pleasure to release this unique and incredibly rare single malt.

“Gordon & MacPhail has been in the whisky business for over 122 years, with each generation building and handing on a lifetime’s expertise to the next. We believe Private Collection Glenlivet 1943 by Gordon & MacPhail is a malt without comparison from a defining date in the history of a world in conflict.

“Today, whisky is a wonderfully unifying drink and this rare example gives people from across the world the chance to own and savour a defining piece of Scotland’s liquid history.”

The whisky is presented in a hand-blown decanter adorned with gold engravings of the land surrounding the distillery and individually numbered with a certificate of authenticity signed by Rankin.

It is stored within a handcrafted wooden box and accompanied by a commemorative book written by whisky author Jonny McCormick.

“Gordon & MacPhail is a singular whisky company emphasised by their incomparable capacity to draw on stocks from the 1940s,” said McCormick.

“This is an unparalleled opportunity to acquire an exquisite whisky that embodies the concept of rarity. The remarkable complexity and vivid flavours that have developed over a lifetime in wood ensure this single malt Scotch whisky will make a handsome addition to the world’s finest whisky collections.”

Bottled at cask strength of 49.1% abv, a limited number of the decanters are available for purchase directly from Gordon & MacPhail’s South Street Retail Shop and come with a tasting experience.

Prices may differ in international markets due to local taxes and duty.